History | |
---|---|
Great Britain | |
Name | Roebuck |
Ordered | 1 December 1742 |
Cost | £11,518.3.5d including fitting |
Laid down | 2 January 1743 |
Launched | 21 December 1743 |
Completed | 15 February 1744 |
Commissioned | December 1743 |
Fate | Sold |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | fifth-rate two-decker |
Tons burthen | 708 22⁄94 (bm) |
Length |
|
Beam | 36 feet 0+1⁄2 inch (11.0 m) |
Depth of hold | 15 feet 5+1⁄2 inches (4.7 m) |
Propulsion | Sails |
Sail plan | Fully Rigged Ship |
Complement | 280 |
Armament |
|
HMS Roebuck was a 44-gun, fifth-rate sailing warship of the Royal Navy which carried a main battery of twenty 18-pounder (8.2 kg) long guns. Launched on 21 December 1743, she first served in the English Channel during the War of the Austrian Succession, which Britain entered the following March.
In 1744, part of a squadron under Admiral John Norris, Roebuck escorted a large convoy en route to Lisbon but became separated when she went in pursuit of an enemy vessel. She arrived in the Tagus after the convoy to find that Norris’ ships had already left for home. She was subsequently blockaded there by a French fleet until rescued on 9 September, after which, she transferred to the Mediterranean, joining Admiral William Rowley's fleet in operations against Genoa.
When the Seven Years' War began in 1756, Roebuck was sent to the West Indies, where she participated in the attack on Martinique in January 1759 and the capture of Guadeloupe in April. Roebuck paid off for the last time in August 1759. She was briefly hired out as a private warship but when she returned home in 1764, she was surveyed at Portsmouth and on 3 July, sold off.